MATTHEW B. MOWERY — The Oakland Press file photo
The Oakland University cheer team, seen welcoming the men’s basketball team onto the floor for a home game this winter, found out Wednesday night it will be merged with the dance team to form a “spirit” squad, a decision that was not well-received by members of either existing team.

The reaction to Oakland University athletics’ Wednesday night announcement that it would be merging its existing dance and cheer teams into one combined “Spirit Squad” was … well, spirited to say the least.

Current and former members of the two squads took to social media to blast the administration’s decision to turn a pair of vastly different sports into a mishmash amalgamated squad of entertainers, in the hopes of enhancing the game-day experience at athletic events.

It would be neither fish nor fowl, they argued, and unable to compete nationally as either.

“I personally think its ridiculous that both teams have worked so hard these past few years to build such a wonderful program to just be taken away from us in a heartbeat. We worked so hard to prove both our programs were good enough for Oakland University and also across the nation,” said cheer team member Kaltra Gorica. “Sad to say our accomplishments weren’t enough of a success for athletics that ended up pulling the rug right under both teams.”

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After a day of (perhaps unexpected) blowback, the athletics administration is planning to meet again with the impacted student-athletes to clear the air.

The school is not cutting anything, a school spokesperson insisted, just combining the existing programs, and there is no budgetary benefit from the move. And the athletics department also wants to make it clear that it will assist in setting up individual club cheer or dance teams, to enable those who wish to still specialize in one or the other to compete at nationals.

“The messaging could have been more detailed and we look forward to clearing up any misconceptions next week in a meeting with the cheer and dance teams, and student government. We have already started some of these discussions and they have proved very fruitful,” director of athletics Jeff Konya said. “We are trying as a university to open up several pathways for these great student-athletes, with athletics and game-day performances, or with club competition if they so desire.

“There may also be a Horizon League competition at Motor City Madness. The foundation of our Ethos is to enhance the student-athlete experience and we believe by moving the cheer and dance teams under one umbrella where the both receive coaching in their discipline.”

The move caught members of the current teams by surprise when it was announced Wednesday night, especially since they’d been under the impression that both individual programs had been growing both as competitors, and as game-day entertainers.

And they still have concerns about how a combined program would work.

“I was very confused, thinking we had done a good job at enhancing the game-day experience based on the compliments we had from random fans. They (the administration) then proceeded to tell us there would be one team not separating cheer and dance,” said third-year cheer team member Kiah Behrendt. “My next thought was ... well, cheer and dance are completely different. I cannot dance to save my life! Many of us worked very hard to get skills that will be put to waste to be a spirit squad. Now I am used to people saying cheerleading is not a sport, but having the athletic administration confirm those accusations by taking away the sport aspect and competitive aspects of our team has really thrown us for a loop. Cheering at games was awesome and a fun experience to interact with fans and cheer out our fellow athletes, but that is not all we are meant to do. …

“The administration likes to say they did not cut the cheer or dance programs, but taking away everything that makes our sport, athletic and making us join another sport that has nothing to do with cheerleading is cutting our cheerleading program. We cannot compete, we can only be promotional and have one team that is cheer and dance. Just ridiculous. It is like taking baseball and basketball and telling them they can practice together as one team but they cannot compete against other teams in their own sport, they can only entertain. Don’t get me wrong, entertaining is PART of what we do, but it is not all we do and we cannot entertain with the dance team, we cant dance just as many of them cannot tumble and stunt.”

The cheer team, in particular, recently added male members, then placed sixth at NCA College Nationals among co-ed teams. Now, they fear they’ll be back to square one, with another new coach — their fourth in four seasons — learning to do something foreign to many from both squads.

“It is incredibly unfair that two teams that both placed in the top 10 at a national competition have to be combined for next year, especially because cheer and dance are two completely different sports. Both sports have grown this past year with little support from the school. The school is saying that they aren’t technically ‘cutting’ the cheer team, but they are stripping away the most important aspects of cheerleading: stunting, tumbling, and competing. Those three things are the reasons why cheerleaders love the sport, and most do not do it just to cheer on other sports,” said third-year cheer team member Jordyn Hawk.

“I have cheered since I was 5 years old, and ever since, I have faced incredible amounts of disrespect towards cheerleading. Recently more people have begun to recognize cheerleading for the tough sport that it is, but Oakland seems to just take steps back and still cannot seem to recognize cheer and dance for two separate, athletic, competitive sports. It is disheartening to know that we have practiced for hundreds and hundreds of hours this year so that we could perform well at nationals and hopefully gain some support from the athletic administration.”

“We succeeded in performing well at nationals, hitting two clean routines and placing sixth as a new coed team, but we obviously have lost the support of Oakland athletics.”

Teammate Stephanie Gorham echoed those sentiments.

“It’s such a shame that after three years of unconditional commitment to this cheerleading program that it has come to this. I have put everything I have into the program for the last three years and to not be given the respect that I deserve is disheartening,” Gorham said.

“They may be able to take cheerleading out of athletics, but there is no way I am allowing them to remove it from my life. All of our hard work and for most of us, our whole lives have been ripped out from under us, and there are no words that will ever be able to describe how this situation has effected me and both cheer and dance team members.”